Dumb Boys Equal Low Math Scores

You've probably heard by now that in Mathematics and Science, America ranks average or near the bottom of many developed nations. In 2006, students from 30 countries took the International Student Assessment offered by PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment), which is a project of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

For those who want to see America remain the leader of the civilized world, the outcome of the tests was troubling. The United States has been losing ground to other countries in math and science. Students in 23 of the 30 countries scored higher than the USA; America ranked in the bottom 7. On the science portion of the tests, students from the US scored 11 points below the average score of the 30 countries. Students in Finland ranked #1; they earned the top scores in both math and science.

Quoting a Washington Post story, the test "results underscore concerns that too few U.S. students are prepared to become engineers, scientists and physicians, and that the country might lose ground to competitors."

That's serious stuff, but the test results should not surprise us if we have been paying attention to what American culture has been doing to our boys over the past 30 years.

Think of it this way: math and science have been subjects in which males do well. But boys don't score high in math and science simply because they are boys. They make higher math and science grades only when they are smart boys. The dumber our boys become or the stupider they think they are, the poorer they'll do in math and science. How we program boys can enable or disable the math-science regions of their brains! That may not be scientifically correct, but the something has happened to how we raise boys in America, something that has helped to lowering the math and science scores.

There seems to be a link between those low math and science scores, and how American culture and politics have dumbed down of boys for about three decades. Need we mention that male bashing that has become a normal part of American culture?

Let's face it: Dumb guys = low scores in math and science. And in practical terms, that equals fewer American-born engineers, scientists and physicians. Want proof? Visit a hospital or clinic in America. See all those foreign-born doctors? That's just one implication of dumb American male students who flunk science.

Do we want American students to catch up with or outperform the rest of the civilized world in math and science? Hiring qualified math and science teachers will help somewhat. But if we want to get to the root of the problem, we must start by getting our boys to believe once again that boys and men are smart, that that young men don't only have brute strength for football, basketball, boxing and wrestling, but that guys also have brains that actually work. We must do something to teach our boys that men are not the likes of Patrick on Sponge Bob, that our sons can still become engineers and scientists and doctors in rising numbers.

We can reverse the trend, but we must have the courage to deal with the root of the problem, not the fruit and symptoms of it. Could it be that raising our sons UP instead of down might actually raise America's math and science scores up as well? It just might. There may be a connection there.